Simone Brixius Anderko

Dr. Simone Brixius-Anderko earned a diploma in molecular biology and a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Saarland University (Germany) in the laboratory of Prof. Rita Bernhardt. In collaboration with an industrial partner, she developed a sustainable biotechnological process to generate pharmaceutical steroids exploiting human cytochrome P450 enzymes (P450s). As postdoctoral fellow in the Bernhardt lab she then studied the impact of prostate cancer drugs on P450-mediated steroid production. Since her interested in P450 structure/function relationship grew she transitioned to the laboratory of Prof. Emily Scott at the University of Michigan (College of Pharmacy) to receive training in X-ray protein crystallography. She was particularly interested in cortisol-producing P450 CYP11B1 and aldosterone-producing CYP11B2, since they are important drug targets for Cushing's disease and aldosterone-derived hypertension, respectively. Funded by a postdoctoral fellowship of the American Heart Association, she could solve several structures of CYP11B2 in complex with ligands and redox partner proteins to find new treatment approaches for hypertension. In her independent career at Pitt Pharmacy, Dr. Brixius-Anderko studies P450-mediated fatty acid metabolism in lung cancer progression to find new treatment approaches. She is a passionate mentor and deeply enjoys training the next generation of scientists. Biochemistry, cytochrome P450 enzymes, structural biology, X-ray protein crystallography, enzymology